As digital technology proliferates, so too has the number of different digital file formats. Many digital devices only possess the ability to accept digital files in one format. Thus, to accommodate devices that make use of different formats, systems that distribute digital files employ one or more transcoders which comprise mechanisms for converting digital files in one format to another format.
The standard approach to transcoding digital files makes use of a “Round-robin” methodology, whereby files undergo transmission to alternating nodes in a transcoding network. Each node typically has the ability to transcode a digital file, e.g., a digital video file, from one format to another. The round-robin approach has proven inefficient because of its inability to accomplish true load balancing among nodes. When performing less than full file transcodes, render farms can process individual frames, or chunks of data, in order to balance the load across every node properly. With regard to transcoding of full files, separating chunks of data for distribution to individual nodes has proven difficult. Each node must fully process a file. The traditional “render farm” approach does not apply to this form of load balancing.